Albus Dumbledore and the Mirror of Erised
by snuffles67
Summary: Have you ever wondered what Albus Dumbledore sees when he looks into the mirror of erised? this story sees Albus find the mirror of erised one night, on the same night as young Harry Potter. (p.s- I've tried getting this all from ALbus Dumbledore's point of view. please read and review? :) )
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters. Along belong to the amazing author J. . I'm just playing with the story a bit :)**

**Chapter 1: Thoughts and Regret**

"Ah the castle is so calm in the night", thought Albus Dumbledore as he walked the corridors of the school. He had just finished his meeting with Severus Snape. He chuckled as he remembered the tyrant of complaints Professor Snape made of the Potter boy, "- mediocre, arrogant as his father, a determined rule breaker, delighted to find himself famous, attention-seeking and impertinent…" and the list just went on. He found Harry Potter as a very shy, modest boy, very likeable and reasonably talented. It could not be helped that Professor Snape thought of Harry in a way he thought of James Potter, Harry's father. James was one of the most popular students in the school in his time, a prankster, popular among the ladies because of his good looks, brilliant quidditch player. He was also one of the students who got along with everyone (well, except the slytherins of course) and he was one of the best aurors Dumbledore knew. As Dumbledore continued walking around lost in his thoughts, he found himself in front of the door leading to one of the old classrooms on the fifth floor. As he entered the classroom, he remembered that the Mirror of Erised had been placed in this classroom by him.

He saw the familiar looking magnificent mirror standing in front of him, as high as the ceiling with an ornate gold frame and standing on two clawed feet. He moved to stand in front of the mirror and saw his family. Professor Dumbledore though, one of the popular wizards of the era whom people respected and sought for help, had indeed had a troublesome childhood. As he stood there in front of the mirror, he remembered his younger days, when Ariana was a happy girl before the incident where 3 muggle boys had attacked her when they saw her using her powers and she was never the same. His father had gone after those muggles and attacked them and later was sent to Azkaban till the end of his life for it, thus saving the Dumbledore's from embarrassment of anyone finding out about Ariana. He remembered his mother Kendra Dumbledore, a strong, proud witch, her family was her first priority. She had taken care of his squib sister Ariana. Though many people tell that his mother had locked Ariana in the cellar because she was too embarrassed to tell anyone about her squib daughter, no one other than the Dumbledore family knew how much she took care of Ariana. She was able to calm her when she had one of her tantrums. Ariana's favorite brother was Aberforth. Aberforth was just a few years older than Ariana and was there in the house while Albus was in Hogwarts and thus Ariana loved him more than anyone from the family, apart from his mother of course. Then, along came Gellert Grindelwald and his ideas In the summer Albus graduated from Hogwarts and in the same summer his mother had passed away in one of Ariana's rages. Grindelwald had been a student in Durmstrang but had been expelled when he was of 16 years age. He had travelled around for several months before landing in Godric's hollow and staying at Bathilda Bagshot's in a room. Albus had been an idiot for not caring for his sister and brother as the head of the family and letting himself go away with Grindelwald's ideas and pushing his family, his sister to the last priority. He remembered the duel he and Grindelwald had had in their house when his brother Aberforth had confronted him for his stupidity and things went out of control and he still didn't know the one who did it, but Ariana died trying to help but not knowing what to do and being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Albus wiped his tears away as he remembered how his mistakes had hurt his family. "I'm sorry mother, I couldn't take care of Ariana after you passed away. I'm sorry Ariana I wasn't the ideal brother and pushed you to the last priority. I'm sorry Aberforth that because of my stupidity and carelessness we lost Ariana. I'm sorry … ", Albus thought as he saw his family next to him in the mirror smiling back at him.

A loud piercing scream cut the silence of the calm night. "Ah someone not allowed has entered the restricted section of the library… oh Severus will take care of it ", though Albus as he went back to remembering his younger days when he heard footsteps outside the door. He heard Filch and Severus talking. He heard the door open and close. Silently, Albus cast the disillusionment charm on himself and walked towards the upturned desks and turned around to see no one behind him. Then he heard the swish of a cloak as young Harry Potter materialized in front of him and chuckled. "Oh yes, the invisibility cloak… glad to know Harry has already started using it. So he was the one in the restricted section", Albus thought as he saw Harry see the mirror and move towards it. Albus wondered what young Harry would see in the mirror. "His deepest desire… oh could it be…?", as he saw Harry almost scream and look around him in wonder and turn back to the mirror. He heard Harry whisper, "mom? Dad? ". "Yes, his guess was correct. Harry saw his parents in the mirror", Albus thought as he silently started walking towards the door. As he left the room thinking he shouldn't be here as it was a personal moment for young Harry, he turned around to observe him. The boy had suffered a lot in such a young age and his future looked grim as well. Tom Riddle would be back to haunt Harry in the coming future. He left the room and he saw Mrs. Norris hissing. He thought he'd help Harry and thus knocked down a vase. "Enough time for Harry to cover himself with the marvelous cloak", Albus thought as he saw Mrs. Norris slip into the room.


	2. Chapter 2: Genius!

**Disclaimer:**** none of the characters in this story belong to me!**

**Chapter 2: Genius!**

The next day, Albus observed young Harry during breakfast. He saw that he wasn't touching his food and Ronald Weasley was trying to make Harry eat. Albus understood what was going on in Harry's mind. "Of course, like every other person who had seen his deepest desire in the mirror, Harry felt nothing else seemed to matter anymore except seeing the mirror again…", thought Albus Dumbledore as he saw them get up and leave the Great Hall.

Albus Dumbledore paced his study as he was wondering what defense he should put regarding the philosopher's stone. "Something which can give the stone only if the person wants it to protect it… not to use it… ". He had promised he'd help his dear friend Nicholas in keeping it safe and had asked Hagrid to get it from Gringotts because he knew it was easy to steal it from there and as he read the news the day Hagrid brought the stone, he realized he had been correct in thinking so. Now the stone lay on his desk as he continued to think as to how to protect it. Continuing to think, he realized it had become dark and he hadn't eaten dinner. Thus Albus, lost in his thoughts, started for the kitchens.

As he walked he heard some moaning and whispering what seemed to be coming from the adjacent corridor. He decided to check and heard a voice tell with excitement, "its here- just here-yes!" "Ah young Harry has come back to the mirror", Albus thought. As he continued on his way, while passing the door, he heard a loud shout in the voice of Ronald Weasley."Ah so Harry got Ronald with him… let's see what is going on", Albus decided as he cast the disillusionment charm on himself and entered the room to listen to Ronald telling Harry what he sees in the mirror. Albus stayed and listened as the boys continued their conversation and started to push each other to see the mirror. A sudden noise put an end to the conversation and the boys realized how loudly they had been talking and hid under the invisibility cloak just as entered the room. As soon as she left, he heard whispering and footsteps and the door opened and closed again.

Albus found himself walking towards the mirror but this time his mind was still trying to figure out how to hide the stone. When he stood in front of the mirror, he thought "Of course! The mirror can help me in this way! Only a person who wants to protect it may be able to get the stone out of the mirror. A person who wants to use it in any way may not be able to obtain the stone from the mirror…genius! ", he chuckled as he decided he'll have to ask Filch to move the mirror tomorrow and started once again to the kitchens as he felt more hungry than ever before.


	3. Chapter 3: Questions

**Disclaimer: none of the characters belong to me! There are a lot of parts in this chapter which are a repeat of the book. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 3: Questions**

"The castle looks so beautiful", thought Hagrid as he sat in his wooden house as he drank his cup of tea with Professor Dumbledore. Professor Dumbledore had been the one had saved Hagrid from almost getting banished from the magical world, from his home. He had trusted in Hagrid when he had been wrongly accused in his 6th year, he had been the one who had persuaded Professor Dippet, the then headmaster, to let Hagrid stay as the gamekeeper as he had no other place to go to. Hagrid owed his life to Professor Dumbledore. Hagrid smiled as he looked at him, "kind, thoughtful, a brilliant brilliant man ". Professor Dumbledore got up at that moment telling him that he had some business to attend to in the castle and wished him a good night as he left his house.

Albus Dumbledore walked past the greenhouses towards the entrance of the castle, taking in the beauty of the castle. The snow had not been cleared yet and the castle looked amazing, covered in snow. He started walking towards the classroom which had the Mirror of Erised. He entered the classroom and was just about to raise his wand to move the mirror when he heard footsteps coming towards the classroom. Albus walked towards one of the desks and took a seat as he saw Harry come into the room, smiling at the sight of his reflection in the mirror and sitting in front of it. A few minutes later, he realized he wasn't alone after all and turned towards the desks where Albus was seated.

"So- back again, Harry?" said Albus as he smiled at the fear on Harry's face. "I didn't see you, sir", Harry said."Strange how nearsighted being invisible can make you", said Albus and chuckled and continued on to say "So, you, like hundreds before you, have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised". "I didn't know it was called that, Sir". "But I expect you've realized by now what it does", asked Albus knowing very well that Harry was a smart boy and would have figured something out. "It- well- it shows me my family-", began Harry, "and it showed your friend Ron himself as a head boy", said Albus.

"How did you know-", asked Harry when Albus cut through his question by gently saying, "I don't need a cloak to be invisible. Now, can you think what the Mirror of Erised shows us all?"

Harry shook his head, Albus helped him by saying, "Let me explain. The happiest man on earth would be able to use the Mirror of Erised like a normal mirror, that is; he would look into it and see himself exactly as he is. Does that help?" Albus could see Harry was thinking hard as he said slowly, "It shows us what we want…whatever we want".

"Smart boy", thought Albus as he explained "Yes and no. It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts. You, who have never known your family, see them standing around you. Ronald Weasley, who has always been overshadowed by his brothers, sees himself standing alone, the best of all of them. However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge nor truth. Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible".

Albus looked at the young boy sitting in front of him and continued on "The Mirror will be moved to a new home tomorrow, Harry, and I ask you not to go looking for it again. If you ever do run across it, you will now be prepared. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that. Now, why don't you put that admirable cloak back on and get off to bed?"

Harry stood up. Albus looked at the Mirror, lost in thoughts when Harry interrupted them. "Sir- Professor Dumbledore? Can I ask you something?" he asked.

Smiling, Albus replied, "Obviously, you've just done so, you may ask me one more thing, however".

"What do you see when you look in the mirror?"

"Oh this boy is clever and very curious but Alas, I can't tell him the truth", thought Albus as he replied, "I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks". Harry stared. He continued "One can never have enough socks. Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn't get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books". Albus felt a bit bad for lying but what he said was half true, people really did insist on giving him books on any and every occasion as he remembered his collection of books in his study.

As he magically moved the Mirror to its new home, Albus realized it won't be late before Harry would have to face Tom Riddle once more. "Well, all we can do is pray for his safety and protect him as much as possible", he thought to himself as he walked back to his study.

**The End**


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